Thousand Oaks mass shooting raises questions about veterans’ transitions back to civilian life

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Hundreds of Marines from a Camp Pendleton’s 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, who recently returned from a deployment to Australia, march down Avenida Del Mar in downtown San Clemente on Friday, November 9, 2018 during a Welcome Home Parade organized by the city and several local non-profits. (Photo By Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)

This 2017 photo from the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows Ian David Long. Authorities said the Marine combat veteran opened fire Wednesday evening, Nov. 7, 2018, at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, killing multiple people before apparently taking his own life. (California Department of Motor Vehicles via AP)

“We spend six months to prepare a Marine for what they need to know to do their job and spend a week at the end to transition them out,” Buhl said. “It troubles me, and I’m not alone.”

Help before the transition

As head of the Wounded Warrior Regiment from 2012-2014, Buhl was in a position to help Marines who had been diagnosed with a mental or physical disability before they transitioned out of the Corps.

The regiment oversees the operation of two Wounded Warrior Battalions – at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina – as well as multiple detachments around the globe. Its services include military treatment facilities and Department of Veterans Affairs Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers. Military who are still in active duty are provided with counseling, rehabilitative service and put on medications if necessary.

“Whether they have PTSD or some level of PTS (post-traumatic stress), everyone there gets a multifaceted approach to help them heal,” Buhl said of the regiment. “When they go to transition counseling, they seek out compatible employment that fits their demeanor.”

Once military members are ready for discharge, information about their disabilities is provided to the Veterans Administration, whose job it is to follow up with the veteran.

More recently, the Marine Corps added a Combat Operational Stress Control program, in which psychiatrists are assigned to 4,000- to 5,000-man regiments, monitoring service men and women and training leaders to recognize signs of PTSD.

But not everyone is diagnosed

Major Guy Zierk, who retired from the Marine Corps in August after 24 years, was among 30 Marines attached to the Wounded Warrior Regiment as a District Injured Support Coordinator.

In this capacity, Zierk, who served in three combat deployments and was based at Camp Pendleton, assisted Marine veterans who were medically retired – transitioning out of their military service jobs. In five years, he said, he worked more than 600 cases, where he helped veterans navigate their transition, coordinating with caseworkers at the Veterans Administration as well as with nonprofit state and local groups.

Typically, he said, veterans wanted some level of assistance. But in some cases, they wouldn’t show up to appointments.

“There is more than enough help if a veteran wants it,” Zierk said. “Sometimes veterans don’t like the type of help that they are being given.”

Often, he said, the problem comes with not admitting that help is needed.

When Marines come back from combat deployment, they go through an interview with a doctor, Zierk said. If they don’t disclose that they have issues and there are no obvious signs, they go back into their units. After spending years becoming a Marine, he said, the last thing they want to do is stand out from among their brothers.

To help ease the discussion, six months before Marines come up on their four-year service mark, they have an opportunity to tell a doctor about physical or mental issues as part of a program called Benefits Delivery Upon Discharge.

“The service member doesn’t have to feel ostracized,” Zierk said. “He or she can freely talk to a doctor.”

In his case, Zierk said, he had difficulty admitting he needed help.

“My second deployment was pretty hellacious,” he said. “We lost quite a few and killed quite a few. You don’t really know you’ve changed until people point it out. You fight not to be different. Getting help means you admit you’re different.”

Help in the civilian world

Kolin Williams, a veterans counselor at Saddleback Community College, has seen many veterans who lack the services they need.

An Army veteran who said he received little support when he left the service, Williams became the first full-time veterans counselor in Southern California. Since 2011, the San Clemente resident has provided personal, career and academic counseling at the Veterans Education and Transition Services program at Saddleback.

He also teaches Boots-to-Books, a military-transition-to-college course, to recently discharged Marines, and works at Camp Pendleton’s School of Infantry once a week to help active-duty Marines navigate the transition process to the civilian world.

“The connection, or lack thereof, between the Department of Defense and VA medical care has always been a problem,” Williams said.

“Active-duty service members who have had mental health issues are not rolled right into VA medical care so they often have to spend valuable time and energy working through the process on their own without much guidance,” he said. “This is often very problematic because transitioning out of the military brings about a variety of concerns such as housing and financial hardships which often take precedence over finding a medical professional.”

In his Boots-to-Books course, he said, he has veterans fill out an application for VA Health Care as a class assignment to “ensure they have initial access to care.”

“At least 75 percent of the student veterans in my classes over the last seven years haven’t completed the basic application for VA Health Care after discharge,” he said. “As far as I know the application is still not a part of the transition process from active duty to civilian life.”

Ian David Long “was not enrolled in VA health care at any time,” VA Public Affairs confirmed.

Erika Ritchie reports on South Orange County coastal communities, military issues and Camp Pendleton for the OC Register. She explores everything from coastal access, environmental issues and marine life to city government, animal welfare and quality of life. She’s won many awards including first place in news (2016) by the Orange County Press Club for her coverage of record numbers of whale entanglements off the California coast. Erika’s covered military change of command and seen military affairs firsthand from the sea aboard a battleship, air from a MV-22 Osprey, and land including Pendleton’s International war games and San Clemente Island’s ordnance ranges. Journalism allows Erika’s penchant for telling human stories of conflict, struggle and joy. Her monthly Everyday Hero feature does just that, highlighting achievements of some of Orange County’s most dedicated volunteers and non-profit leaders. Since joining the Register in 2001, she’s at times covered every city in South Orange County delving into development, housing, transportation, county government and social issues. She’s often written about Saddleback Church and Pastor Rick Warren’s emerging national and global roles. Erika’s passionate about animals and outdoor adventure. She runs, stand-up paddles and skis - both alpine and x-country. She frequents Mammoth Lakes and Mountain for hiking, biking & skiing and for her dogs to frolic in the snow and lakes. She grew up bilingual in German and conversational in French.